Republican leads by eight in Hawaii special election

Republicans hold an eight-point lead in the Hawaii special election as the mail-in voting begins in the race, according to a new Honolulu Advertiser poll.

The poll shows Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou (R) with 36 percent of the vote, former Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) at 28 percent and state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa (D) at 22 percent. Just 13 percent of voters are undecided.

The poll is significant because voting beings this week, and voting is being done only by mail. That means a significant amount of the final vote total will begin to tabulate, and whoever has the momentum right now can start to build a lead in the May 22 race.

A two-week-old Research 2000 poll from the liberal website Daily Kos showed Djou with a smaller lead, besting Case 32-29, with Hanabusa at 28 percent.